about

“The one UMBERTO performance we had the rad fortune to bear witness to involved at least a dozen dudes, dads, and ladies all on stage wearing sunglasses at night and shredding keyboards / keytars bathed in a sea of fog machinery and strobe lights and extraterrestrially-costumed interpretive dancers. Shit was BEYOND. Umberto mastermind MATT HILL allegedly went to legit music school back in the day and used to play bass for EXPO 70 (Justin/Expo released the debut Umberto tape/CDR, From The Grave, on his Sonic Meditations label) before splintering into his current electro-satanic Goblin worship guise—and we for one can’t get enough. Prophecy Of The Black Widow is his sophomore LP and though the badass evil Italo goth-synth horror-score blueprint of Grave remains, the main variation is subtle vibe-shift from ‘70s Argento/Carpenter-isms into more early/mid-’80s new wave creep-scapes. There’s still plenty of eerie nightmare keyboard riffs and vintage witch-disco breakouts but the synths squelch with more of a neon retrofuturist bent and there’s even one brazenly feelgood soaring-into-the-sunset closing credits anthem (the literally-titled ‘Everything Is Going To Be Okay’). Whatever prophecy Prophecy is foretelling, we’re on board. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with sick fake-3D lettering and art by SETH JOHNSON.”—NNF.

credits

released 01 October 2010

LP released on Not Not Fun. Cassette released on Sonic Meditations(in mini VHS case). Reissued on Burka For Everybody in 2014.